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Special playoff edition of Baseball Today: Saturday, October 13

AP Photo

A quick spin around the baseball world in the aftermath of the Sox' Game One victory over the Indians:

THE COMPLETE REPORT: Odds are that if you're here, you've already done so. But if you haven't, you really should check out last night's 10-story postgame package from Sean McAdam, Joe McDonald, Steven Krasner, Jim Donaldson, Kevin McNamara and yours truly. Newspaper deadlines being what they are, it's difficult to get a lot of postgame material into the paper; most of it now goes to the Web. We hit all the bases last night, and quickly; everything was posted within 60-90 minutes after the final pitch. That's going to be the M.O. for the playoffs, and it goes something like this:

-- Pregame material to the blog starting in mid-afternoon, right up to the first pitch
-- In-game photos posted to the blog constantly, with news of note posted as it happens
-- A game story on the blog within a minute of the last out
-- Postgame surveys and photos on the site in the wake of the final score
-- Quick postgame reaction to the blog within 20 minutes of the last out
-- Stories posted first to the blog, then to the main site, as they're written

So come early, come often. We're always here.

Now to the links . . .

PHRASE OF THE DAY: Baseball Musing's David Pinto used the same word as our own Joe McDonald -- domination -- in describing the Sox' victory.

MR. OCTOBER: ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick says Josh Beckett added to his postseason legend last night. SI.com's Tom Verducci agrees.

THE 'OL 1-2: Also making history, points out SI.com's Jon Heyman, are David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.

LOOKING GOOD: The Boston Herald's Steve Buckley says the Sox are better than the Indians in three important areas -- better No. 1 starter, the better 3-4 offensive punch, the better closer -- and it showed last night.

DIFFERING OPINIONS: On the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Indians Blog, Paul Hoynes writes that Grady Sizemore called Game One ''a game we wanted to win.'' But Kenny Lofton pointed out: ''This is a seven-game series. Somebody had to lose Game One.''

MAKING BELIEVERS: During his in-game chat last night, espn.com's Rob Neyer wrote (at 9:04 p.m.) that if Manny Ramirez is ''healthy and Dice-K is effective, the Red Sox are *easily* the best team in the tournament.'' FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal says ''If Josh Beckett keeps pitching like this, and David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez keep getting on base like this, the Red Sox are going to be awfully difficult to stop.''

TIRESOME: Pinto notes says the fatigue factor ''sure makes sense'' when examining C.C. Sabathia's poor start.

IT'S ALL YOUR MIND: The Akron Beacon-Journal's Patrick McManamon wonders if the Indians' Psychology Department ''can conduct a study and figure out why the C.C. Sabathia of the regular season has been AWOL from the playoffs.''

MISTAKE IDENTITY: The Cleveland Plain-Dealer's Bud Shaw says Sabathia has turned into Jeremy Sowers.

SCENES FROM A PLAYOFF SERIES . . . from the Plain-Dealer's Mark Gillespie.

LOOKING AHEAD, SHORT TERM: The Plain-Dealer's Terry Pluto says the job of tonight's starter, Fausto Carmona, has just gotten harder.

LOOKING AHEAD, LONG TERM: The blog Philly Burbs says the Phillies may make a free-agent run at Curt Schilling. Schilling says the Phils are on his short list (Philadelphia Daily News), though his first choice is to return to Boston. (Boston Globe)

THE ULTIMATE INSULT: Mark Kriegel of FoxSports.com is the latest to point out that Red Sox fans are morphing into Yankee fans, same as the Sox are morphing into the Yanks.

KNOW YOUR (NEW) ENEMY: Joe Posnanski gives us a glimpse into the angst of the Cleveland fandom in his personal history of growing up rooting for the teams from northeast Ohio. (joeposnanski.com)

EXPAND THE FIELD: Verducci notes that MLB -- enthralled by the winner-goes-on/loser-goes-home excitement of the Rockies-Padres play-in game -- are leaning towards adding a second wild card.

AND AS SOME PLAY . . . others plan for their future. The blog River Ave. Blues, while understanding it won't happen, advocates gutting the Yankees and looking to the future.

FAMILY MAN: The New York Daily News' Mike Lupica says the fact that Joe Torre is still the manager indicates there's a sea change going on with the Yankees, and that George Steinbrenner -- who now leans on members of his Yankee ''family'' more than he ever did -- is engendering loyalty from his employees even as the franchise moves away from his knee-jerk, reactionary style of management.

PLAYING CHICKEN: The Yankees think Alex Rodriguez needs them more than they need him. A-Rod and his agent, Scott Boras, think the Yankees need Rodriguez more than he needs them. So who, if anyone, will blink first? (New York Times)

BEWARE: Sean McAdam may have more on this tomorrow, but the Mitchell investigation is apparently ready to release some very big names in his investigation into baseball's steroids scandal. (espn.com)

IN OTHER NEWS: Leo Mazzone was fired by the Orioles (Baltimore Sun) . . . Old friend Rudy Seanez was cut loose by the Dodgers, and he thinks older friend Shea Hillenbrand won't be far behind (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . Walt Jocketty, recently fired as Cardinals' GM, is being courted by the Reds (Dayon Daily News) . . . Mel Stottlemyre has talked to the Mariners about becoming their pitching coach (mlb.com) . . . Keith Foulke is planning a comeback (Boston Globe).

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 10:14 AM | Permalink

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Billy-Ball | October 14, 2007 3:22 PM link